This is going to be a fun one. Not only am I going to get to play music I love (house, disco, funk, soul, classic hip-hop) but, I’m playing it with 2 people who know how to play it. 88 is the music director at Insert Coins and has a music resume for days while Adam is the President’s DJ and the host of various dope music parties in LA like Giorgio’s. Leave your twerking pants at home and bring your roller skates.

For a solid 2 weeks, almost every day, someone at some point said something to the effect of “What do you think about that new Kendrick” to me. I actually didn’t listen to the album the second it came out. I really don’t listen to any album the second it comes out anymore. There’s so much hype surrounding big releases nowadays that by the time the album drops, I’m so sick of hearing about it that I just wait until it’s not trending to give it a proper listen. If I’m going to love an album and it’s going to be a classic, I can wait 2 weeks.

So. What do I think of that new Kendrick?

I think that the new Kendrick album is really good. I can hear Parliament Funkadelic, some Outkast, a little jazz. I’ve listened to it several times already and it’s probably going to end up in my “classics” folder. It’s a cohesive album.

The album is really good. More importantly, the discussion about it is really sad (or rather the fact that the discussion exists). I could elaborate on my opinion of the album but you have 2 ears and access to the album so you can form your own opinion. Instead I’m going to elaborate on the discussion surrounding the album and hype in general.

My musical tastes started to take shape in the late 80s. When I started to build my cassette and CD collection in the 90s as a teenager, I really had no idea what kind of gold I was getting. In retrospect, the quality of the albums coming out at that time and the frequency of their release was unbelievable. Think I’m on my “old man, good old days” shit? Lemme run through a few gems:

(That was me thumbing randomly through my iPhone for about 2 minutes. I could make a list 10 pages long and not scratch the surface.)

As the years pass, I still get lots of great albums. Key word: albums. The list above contains artists who put out amazing albums. Front to back listen the whole way through albums. Not every album they put out was amazing, but all of them have at 1 that is unfuckwitable. Most of the time when I get a “new” awesome album, it’s not actually new in the sense that it just came out, but it’s “new” in the sense that I just got it. Occasionally it actually IS a new release.

Fast forward to today. iTunes, shuffling, SoundCloud, YouTube and ADD, amongst other things, have destroyed the album format. Rappers drop albums and call them “mixtapes”, blurring the line between an official proper release and a promo release. (Seems to me, if it sells, magically it’s an album, if it doesn’t, they call it a “mixtape” and act like they didn’t try to push it.) I’ve gotten individual tracks from artists over a period of a few years and I don’t think they ever put an actual album out. Labels don’t care about artist development so there’s no patience to perfect a body of work. Material has to come out yesterday and sound like the flavor of the month. In the end, we’re left with a diminishing number of quality albums to keep on repeat. (Wanna see the care people used to take in making a classic album, watch one of these. I recommend Def Leppard, even if you don’t like Def Leppard.)

Because nobody would ever want to sound like they’re not up on some new hot shit, people overcompensate. Enter: HYPE. When’s the last time you heard someone say “I haven’t gotten a full album in 6 months that I thought was discussion-worthy”? Probably never, even though sometimes I’m sure that’s the case. Instead, they rave about something, often times before they’ve even heard it, so they can sound informed and cool. Albums are breaking sales records as presales on iTunes and Amazon. Re-read that last sentence. It’s totally ok to admit that you haven’t gotten anything amazing in a minute. In the words of my friend Justin, “Sometimes everyone is on one person’s dick because there’s no other dicks to be on at the moment”.

Beyonce quietly dropped her album. Good. It sucked. It should have been dropped so quietly that nobody heard it. (I guess if you’re unsure of your product, why make a big deal of it?) Beyonce has a half a billion dollars and she’s making songs that sound like dirty south struggle raps. We don’t believe you. By the way, how’s Tidal working out for you? I honestly feel bad for girls that want to go out and dance to fun female pop music nowadays because they don’t have anyone to listen in mainstream rotation. But you don’t hear anyone, especially women, saying “Yeah that new Beyonce just isn’t good / good as her old stuff / good as (insert non-mainstream artist here).” Ladies… You’re stuck on an island with “Dangerously In Love” or “Beyonce”? Let’s be honest.

Madonna kissed Drake at Coachella. Cool. Know what else is cool? Making timeless pop music like you used to do. Your shenanigans are trending. Your music is not.

If the D’Angelo album came out under a different name, nobody would have said a peep about it. It’s mediocre at best. Guys like Drake watered down R&B and there hasn’t been a good album in forever. If you were stuck on an island with only 1 D’Angelo album, nobody is picking Black Messiah. There’s no way you have ever been as excited (or pretended to be) as you were about the new D’Angelo album. Pre or post release. Also, it’s weird how people that discuss the new D’Angelo album with me get reaaaallly defensive. Like they have to defend the hype they spread before it came out.

So what’s my point?

This is a unique phenomenon that I wanted to air out. This is our fault. And by “our” I mean people who consume music, people who discuss music and people who make music. Have some standards. Try harder. We NEED more amazing music, not just discussions and speculations. So what do we do?

If you make music, don’t release your album until it’s as good as it possibly can be. Do you not want to make amazing albums? Take as much time as you need. Take chances. Experiment. If you love an album or artist or producer, take what you love about them and apply it to what you do. I loved Ellie Goulding’s first album so much. It’s amazing. I thought it would be a new standard for pop music, female singers, etc. Fast-forward 2 years, her next album is a turd nugget. She sang at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the Royal Wedding. I thought she was gonna take over the world. Now she’s an EDM hook singer at best. WHY?! It’s like basketball players in the NCAA try their hardest and then they get to the NBA and they coast.

If you consume music…

-Quit asking for and accepting music that you know is shit. Are you really in love with the coco? Don’t be a fucking clown. Do you drive around in your car listening to that? Have some standards. Your car picks up more than 3 radio stations.

-If you’re a parent, have some influence over what your kids listen to. A woman who contracted me for a private event told me “My daughter really likes terrible ratchet rap music. I don’t know why.” Guess what? Last time I checked, you were her mom. Act accordingly and turn that shit off.

-If you buy an album and it’s shit, complain. Tell the artist. Just tweet right at them. Tell other people that it sucked (then recommend something else similar but dope). Ask for your money back. I’ve gotten albums for free and if I had paid for them, I’d be furious. And quit hyping up albums before you hear them. Please. How does that even work?

-Don’t settle for what just came out. There are countless amazing albums that were put out over the last 100 years and the technology is in your hand to hear any of them anywhere at any time. Quit pigeonholing your music tastes.

-Talk to a DJ. We’re always getting new music. That’s our job. And when we give you a recommendation, check it out. Or we probably won’t give you any more. If you hear a DJ play something you think is dope or you hear something you think is dope in a restaurant / store, etc., ask what it is, then write it down and get it. Do the work.

-If you get music that you truly believe is dope, spread the word. Tastes are subjective but at least you can start a dialogue. Someone flipping it on you and recommending something even fresher than what you said isn’t a bad thing. Do you want the good music or not?

We’re all in this together. Supply and demand. I want the music to be as dope and plentiful as the conversation about it. Music lover and DJ signing off…

Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk” gets 5 new writers. Just when you thought it was safe to make music. via The Guardian

Simon Cowell to host “Ultimate DJ” competition. It’s like Top Chef, but with shitty DJs acting like they’re playing shittier music. via Variety

Revenge of the Record Labels. How the majors renewed their grip on music. via Forbes

As I AM: The Life and Times of DJ AM – There’s been a ton of great press about the DJ AM documentary and it’s premiere at Tribeca Film Festival. Here’s a quick interview with one of the producers, Kevin Kerslake. Do yourself a favor and Google more about this film. via Indiewire

I’m a nerd. I love hip-hop and I’m a grown ass man, but I’m a nerd. I love researching and reading the stories behind things, watching documentaries, etc. For this reason, Brian Coleman is the shit. Brian has been a music journalist for a long time but I first heard about him from his bookCheck The Technique. Through his books Brian has essentially written the liner notes which previously didn’t exist for 60+ hip-hop albums. If you’re a hip-hop fan, some of these albums are undoubtedly your favorites.

Brian was in town to do a signing for Check The Technique Volume 2 and was gracious enough to swing by my house for an interview. Listen to his story and cop his publications. Shouts to DJ Platurn for the link.

If you’re in the Carolinas, I’ll be giving a talk at the University of North Carolina on Tuesday, April 7th. I’ll be discussing the documentary, the importance of DJing in popular culture, a wide variety of other DJ-related topics and there will be a Q&A. (I’m also hoping for a BBQ&A on my trip. Ha.) The discussion will be held at 2pm in Hill Hall. Please forward this to any DJs you know in the area and reach out to me with any questions. Major shout out to Mark Katz and DJ A-Minor for hooking this up.

To schedule a discussion at your school, please email through the contact page.

Later that evening I’ll also be rocking alongside A-Minor on Chapel Hill.